Dixie Chicks return to U.S. concert stage

Protests outside arena, but warm reception within

May 02, 2003|By Geoff Boucher, Tribune Newspapers: Los Angeles Times.

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Even as President Bush told the nation Thursday night that the major conflict in Iraq is over and rebuilding lay ahead, the Dixie Chicks were on stage searching for a similar message regarding their country music career.

The warm, loud cheers from fans in the 14,000-seat Bi-Lo arena, the first stop on a national tour, suggested that they may hear a message of renewal.

FOR THE RECORD - This story contains corrected material, published May 3, 2003.

The reception was in sharp contrast to the reaction after lead singer Natalie Maines criticized the president before the war in Iraq. On March 10, Maines told a London crowd she was "ashamed" that Bush was a fellow Texan (this sentence as published has been corrected in this text). The remark touched off a firestorm.

Anti-Chicks rallies followed, along with numerous talk-show screeds and the banishment of Chicks songs from some country radio stations. The Chicks, who have sold more albums than any other female group, saw their newest release, "Home," plunge on the charts.

Maines apologized for the wording of her comment but the issue still roils here in Greenville, where the tour kickoff was sold out weeks before the London incident.

The Dixie Chicks have declined to do newspaper interviews, but in interviews with Entertainment Weekly magazine and ABC's Diane Sawyer, the trio said they were stunned by the reaction and unnerved by death threats. Maines was by turns defiant, contrite and contemplative.

"I feel patriotic--and strong," she said in the magazine interview. "We will continue to be who we are."

A few dozen protesters greeted concertgoers outside the arena Thursday night, but the Chicks were greeted on stage with a standing ovation as they opened with "Goodbye Earl."

After the third number, Maines, wearing a black tank top adorned with the words "Dare to be Free," addressed the audience: "If you are here to boo, that's fine. We welcome freedom of speech. We're gonna give you 15 seconds to get out all of it you want." She started a countdown and the audience erupted in cheers.

The arena had heightened security and fans passed through metal detectors and handed over purses and bags for search.

In the music industry, there is no consensus on the group's future. However, sales of the Chicks' album rose 30 percent last week after the two nationally visible interviews.

In the country artist community, there has been mostly silence on the Chicks matter, but there is a sense that the genre is at ideological odds with the Chicks. On the Billboard charts for the genre, there are six songs this week with patriotic or anti-Iraq imagery, led by the No. 1 song, Darryl Worley's "Have You Forgotten," which warns U.S. enemies of smart bombs.

Lee Greenwood, whose 1984 hit "God Bless the U.S.A." is the watershed of patriotic country music, said Maines' apologies seem insincere and haughty.

But Rosanne Cash was among the singers who publicly defended the group--and got threats and insults for doing so, she said. "This whole thing has been appalling," Cash said. "We invaded a country to set up freedom, but now you are punished if, in America you exercise that same freedom? Even if you disagree with her, who wants artists that aren't honest?"

The Dixie Chicks are to perform at the United Center in Chicago on May 29 and 30. Tickets were available Thursday for both shows.